GSPC: CB-ONN-2000/1.

Satellite image of the Cambay Basin area illustrating several features of the modern large scale geomorphology which may have palaeogeographic significance. Note how the drainage associated with fluvial systems from the NE top right of the main image! is split between two alternative 60 outfalls, one in the "ulf of Cambay area and 60 a second to the west associated with the "u#f of $utch. %he watershed between these two alternative outfalls crosses the Cambay Basin area and is a very low relief feature. &inor changes in elevation or accommodation might result in significant shifts in the location of this watershed, and cause drainage in the northern and Central Cambay Basin area to switch from either north directed to the "ulf of $utch! to south directed to the "ulf of Cambay! or vice versa. Drainage from the NE is split between alternative outfalls, with a very low relief watershed.

Report No. 8744/IId

Thar "ar#ar desertified!

!reat Rann of utch

'ittle (ann of $utch

'ow relief watershed

athiawar Disected Deccan %rap terrain!

&uddy, shallow water estuarine environment e*tends some /..#m from the head of the "ulf

Restricted waterbody. Note scale relative to Cambay Basin

Distributive system with split outfall directions

%o the west of the Cambay Basin is an area of low to moderate relief consisting of the dissected terrain of $athiawar, developed on Deccan %rap lithologies. Northwestern parts include the &andav 0ills, but elevations do not e*ceed 1..m. %his area should be considered as a potential provenance area for the %ertiary fill of the Cambay Basin in the study area, but the abundance of volcanic lithologies is li#ely to limit reservoir 2uality. %he uplift history of this bloc# is, however, only poorly #nown. If early %ertiary uplift were to be envisaged, it is possible that a previous cover of 3alaeogene may have been eroded and re,deposited in the Cambay Basin. 3resent drainage from the eastern margin of the &andav 0ills splits to alternate outfalls via the "ulfs of either $utch north! or Cambay south!. %he low relief of the watershed suggests that shifts in the location may have been fre2uent, allowing areas to the south of the present watershed to have previously drained in a northerly direction.

$arge area of shallow water, low energy, lagoonal and estuarine deposition

)utline of the restriced shallow waterbody trapped behind the Indus delta system forms a distal part of the "reat (ann of $utch. %he outline has here been rotated and laid over the appro*imate study area, to demonstrate that a lagoonal + restricted marine bay on this scale would occupy several structural bloc#s of the Cambay Basin and is larger than the area of Bloc# CB,)NN,-...+/

Eastern margin of the Indus Delta, dominated by a muddy marine embayment and marsh setting with a restricted waterbody trapped behind the coastal system.

Disected Deccan Trapp with individual watersheds clearly defined. These drainage systems may be relatively long lived.

FIGURE 4.9

Large scale geomorphology of the greater Cambay Basin area